In today's electronics, integrated circuits are used in almost every household, consumer, and enterprise electronic device. One of the methods of creating an integrated circuit used in everyday electronics is heterogeneous integration. Heterogeneous integration refers to the integration of multiple separately manufactured circuit components into a single package in order to improve functionality and enhance operating characteristics. Heterogeneous integration allows for the packaging of components of different functionalities, different process technologies, and sometimes separate manufacturers. One of the downsides of current methods and processes for heterogeneous integration is the use of solder in those processes. As more and more electronics become flexible, or at least require flexible substrates for their integrated circuits, a new method of manufacturing heterogeneous integrated circuits is desired.
Solder is not very reliable in flexible applications such as those used in modern electronics like wearables and smart fabrics. Thus, in some applications, it is desirable to utilize a solderless method for integrating heterogenous silicon on one module. Additionally, substrates, modules, and processes for manufacturing heterogeneous integrated circuits need to be more reliable, have higher performance, and be more cost effective to meet the growing demands of these devices in modern consumer electronics.
In this context, there is also a need to design around traditional integrated circuit packaging technologies, as understood by those of ordinary skill in the art. Typically, traditional integrated circuit packaging technologies do not allow for a high degree of customization without the need for a rigid printed circuit board (PCB) or various substrates and lead-frames that generally accompany integrated circuit devices. By overcoming these flaws of traditional integrated circuit packaging technologies, the subject matter of the present disclosure can help minimize the need for rigid structures within the integrated circuit package and increase the flexibility of integrated circuit devices for use in flexible applications.